The Masquerader (1914)

Excellent but underrated film

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

"The Masquerader" is a 1914 short film by Charlie Chaplin and of course he also plays the main character. This one is already over 100 years old, so it should not be a surprise to anybody that it is silent and in black-and-white. And besides Chaplin, it also co-stars the very prolific, but pretty unknown Chester Conklin, a very bearded version of Chaplin not only because of the name, and of course Roscoe Arbuckle, who is still somewhat famous today, even if a bit of it is rather bad press than great achievements. I personally like him and his presence, so I am a bit disappointed he did not have a better script to work with because then this could have turned out an actually enjoyable watch. But this way, it is no such thing and I give it a thumbs down. By the way, the version I just saw ran for 12 minutes and not 9 what IMDb says, but it maybe just had fewer frames per second.

The spoiler is already present in the synopsis; therefore, don't worry that there is no additional spoiling information.Funny! Off course this is not one of Charlie Chaplin's best films, as none of his short films for Keystone Studios (1914) or Essanay Studios (1915) is, but it is nice, possibly his best from 1914. There are two elements extremely interesting here: 1) First of all, Chaplin portrays ans actor that is a tramp-like version of himself (a lot of slapstick in spite of having his real appearance), without mustache, and the little tramp is a character played by that actor! 2) Besides that, it is impressive to see Chaplin disguised as a woman in order to charm the director. In addition, it is worth mentioning that some minutes from the film show a scene in which Chaplin acts together with comedian Fatty Arbuckle. They have been together other times (like in "The Knockout", which is much worse than "The Masquerader"), but here the partnership has a better outcome than in other situations, although not an exceptional one. This is the 10th film directed by Chaplin but only the 2nd written by him.

Chaplin wrote and directed his second film, and he appears as himself with Fatty Arbuckle at Keystone studios in the opening scene before changing into costume as the tramp. He then makes time with the ladies while filming is going on, much to the dismay of the director. The director kicks Charlie to the curb only to find him getting revenge by returning to the studio dressed as a woman and initially fooling the director. Chaplin's second film where he appears as a woman is interesting because he is fairly convincing as a woman. Whether it's due to the age of the film, his height, or the expected neck to ankle dress of the period is uncertain. It doesn't matter because it maintains one's interest, although the film is uneven like most of his early efforts. Several silent stars are on hand including Mabel Normand and Charley Chase in small parts. ** of 4 stars.

I am not really sure whether I liked this Charlie Chaplin short or not. Compared to his more famous shorts from 1915 to 1918 this is not that good but since it is Chaplin I found myself smiling almost constantly.Here he plays an actor who messes up several takes. He is fired but returns dressed up as a woman. He kind of seduces the movie's director who likes the woman.The problem with this short is that the only real joke here is Chaplin dressed up as a woman. Of course that is fun to see, but we don't see the real Chaplin and I guess that it makes this Chaplin short a little disappointing.